Chapter 36

In the previous chapter, the Alter Rebbe explained that, through the Mitzvot practices, we reveal to Hashem in our Divine Soul, Animal Soul, and in the body. But why is it so important to reveal to HashemThe Alter Rebbe even went so far as to say that this was precisely the purpose for which the "Middle Man" was created.

To answer this question, the Alter Rebbe quotes the words of our sages.¹, which he already mentioned in chapter 33, about that Hashem He wants us to build a house for Him in this world. Since He didn't explain what this means before, He will now.

Yeah Hashem He is everywhere, so what does it mean to make a “house” for Him? The idea is that, indeed Hashem It's everywhere, but there are places where it's revealed and places where it's hidden. And it's not because Hashem not because it changes from place to place, but because the creatures in each of those places are able to perceive and understand Hashem in different ways.

It's like a teacher giving a class to children of different ages together: five-year-olds, six-year-olds, up to fifteen-year-olds. Of course, a fifteen-year-old understands more than a five-year-old. But, since the teacher is teaching them all together, some understand more and some understand less. It's not that the teacher is different depending on the children's ages; it's that the children are different.

The same applies to Hashem, He is always the same, but each creature understands Him according to its capacity. We cannot understand Hashem, Angels, for example, understand much more than we do, but they don't understand everything either; even the highest spiritual levels cannot grasp the very essence of Hashem. But Hashem He is always the same everywhere, like the teacher.

This idea is known in Tania as “Chain of Worlds” (hishtalshelut haolamotNot worlds like Earth and Mars. The word "world" represents a level; for example, the group of five-year-olds is one world, the six-year-olds is another world, and so on. Hashem It creates many of those worlds. They are like a chain from top to bottom, and each link in the chain is a spiritual level, and as we go down the chain, Hashem It is revealed a little less at each link. Until we reach the last link: this material world where we live. Here Hashem It is so hidden that we cannot see or perceive it.

That is what our wise men meant when they said that Hashem He wants a dwelling in this world, here “down below”, that is, in this last link of the “Chain of Worlds”, Hashem decided that he wants to be revealed down here.

But there's a problem: if Hashem If He were to reveal Himself as He truly is, it would be so powerful that no one could bear it; we would surely die immediately. So how will we bear it when we make His "house"? Because the Alter Rebbe said that we had to make a dwelling for Hashem, through the Mitzvot practices (that's why they are so important, because Hashem He created the entire universe so that we might fulfill them and thus build a “house” for Him) and there Hashem It will be revealed: if so, we would all die.

The Alter Rebbe explains that, in order for us to withstand that stunning revelation of Hashem, It is because He gave us the Torah. The Torah It is called “strength” and “power,” and it is what will allow us to enjoy the revelation of Hashem in the World to Come.

What is the World to Come? The Alter Rebbe explains that the goal of all creation is to reach the Days of the Messiah and the Resurrection of the Dead. In other words, we have to fulfill Mitzvot practices to bring to Messiah (those are the Days of Messiah), so that afterwards Hashem revive all the dead of all generations (that is the Resurrection of the Dead) so that the time of the World to Come may then come, when Hashem may He reveal Himself as He truly is, without concealment, in this material world, and may we receive the reward for all the work we did to build this “house” for Hashem.

The most interesting thing is that this already happened when Hashem handed it over Torah. Every time He said one of the Commandments, we all died.² and He revived us with the power of the Torah. We already feel what we will feel in the World to Come.

But, right after the Delivery of the Torah, we transgressed the Torah making a Golden Calf, and we and the whole world lost that ability to receive a revelation of Hashem, until we recover it by fulfilling Mitzvot internships and studying Torah.

Moreover, when He fully reveals Himself in the Days of Messiah, even the other peoples of the earth will be able to perceive and understand Hashem.